On Thursday, September 21st fourteen paddlers assembled at the feeder canal above Z Channel to paddle and to memorialize the tragic loss of Ella Mills, a junior at Columbia University, who drowned on Sunday, September 17th while kayaking Little Falls. Z Channel was so low most paddlers carried down to the bottom; a few were able to rock hop their way, leaving traces of plastic in their wake. Two of the group ran the Beaver Slide, which had enough water to actually float boats. At Little Falls the group paused for a moment of silence in memory of Ella. We left flowers at the scouting rock on the MD side and in the large eddy on the VA side. It was a somber reminder of our mortality and the dangers and risks inherent in our sport.
The 14 paddlers were Larry, Kim, Gary and Ginny in canoes and Mark, Howard, Mike, Jim, Jenny, Nehal, Ken, Ned, Dan, and Bill in kayaks.The takeout was a breeze, with the high tide obviating the need to trudge through knee deep muck.